Saudi Arabia nation page
As one of the real powerhouses of the Asian confederation throughout the 80s, with wins at the Asian Cup of Nations both in 1984 and in 1988, as well as participation at the Olympic Games football tournament in Los Angeles ’84, they were seen as an ambitious outfit, and certainly one of the more affluent ones. There was no shortage in funding their attempt at reaching Italia ’90. Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira had been appointed their head coach in 1988, having led Kuwait to the 1982 World Cup, and also after a three year stint at United Arab Emirates. He knew the region better than most foreign coaches.
Having negotiated the first group stage, although not without difficulty, Saudi Arabia progressed through to the final round, which was played out on neutral terrain in Singapore in just over two weeks’ time in October 1989. They arrived there a full three weeks before the six teams round robin competition started, on the back of a month in the Netherlands as well as ten days in Portugal. Nothing was left to chance. Saudi Arabia meant business in trying to reach Italia ’90. They took over an entire floor in a fancy Singapore hotel, by Eurosport commentator Peter Brackley refered to as ‘the Manor Inn’ (although there seems to be no record of such a hotel in Singapore at the time), paying 160 USD per room per night.
November 1988 friendlies in preparation for the Asian Cup:
14/11: Egypt (h) 0-0
16/11: England (h) 1-1
23/11: Tunisia (h) 1-0
Saudi Arabia at the 1988 Asian Cup (held in Qatar):
2/12: Syria 2-0
5/12: Kuwait 0-0
9/12: Bahrain 1-1
12/12: China 1-0
15/12: Iran 1-0 (semi-final)
18/12: South Korea 0-0 (4-3 on penalties) (final)
World Cup Qualification 1989
First group stage – AFC Group 2
Match 1
15/3: Saudi Arabia 5-4 Syria
Goals: F Al-Bishi (13′), Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari (44′, 75′), Al-Thunayan (50′), Al-Mohammed (69′)
Line-up: Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, Madani, Al-Jawad (Al-Muwalid 77), Al-Thunayan, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah, F Al-Bishi (Saad Al-Dosari 57), Al-Mohammed, Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
Match 2
20/3: North Yemen 0-1 Saudi Arabia
Goal: Madani (79′)
Line-up: Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, Madani, Al-Jawad, Al-Thunayan, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah (Al-Muwalid 71), F Al-Bishi, Al-Mohammed, Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari (Youssef Al-Dosari 71)
Match 3
30/3: Syria 0-0 Saudi Arabia
Line-up (4-3-3): Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah (c) (H Al-Bishi h-t), Madani, Al-Jawad – F Al-Bishi, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah – Al-Thunayan, Al-Mohammed, Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari (Al-Muwalid 72)
A draw would go a long way in seeing Saudi Arabia through to the final stage of the qualification, and they ultimately achieved their aim, even if they had to survive a hairy finale and six minutes of injury time. They lost the periodically influental Al-Thunayan through a red card for throwing a punch 11 minutes from the end of regulation time. This would see him suspended for their next three qualification matches. Al-Deahyea made two vital stops late, late in the game to preserve their point.
Match 4
5/4: Saudi Arabia 1-0 North Yemen
Goal: Al-Mohammed (44′)
Line-up: Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, H Al-Bishi, Al-Jawad, Saad Al-Dosari (Al-Nafisah 68), Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah, Youssef Al-Dosari, Al-Mohammed, Al Jam’an Al-Dosari
Saudi Arabia, as group winners, progressed through to the final group stage. Table:
1. Saudi Arabia 4 3 1 0 7-4 7
2. Syria 4 2 1 1 7-5 5
3. North Yemen 4 0 0 4 0-5 0
(Bahrain withdrew)
Final group stage (held on neutral soil in Singapore)
Match 1
12/10: Saudi Arabia 1-2 China
Goal: F Al-Bishi (24′, pen)
Line-up: Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, Madani, Al-Jawad, Al-Suraiti (Youssef Al-Dosari 78), Al-Saleh (Al-Muwalid 83), Al-Musaibeah, F Al-Bishi, Al-Mohammed, Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
Coming into the final group stage, Saudi Arabia had been talked as one of the favourites to progress through to the World Cup, and it was going according to plan as they led at half time thanks to a penalty from Fahad Al-Bishi. Against a reasonable Chinese outfit, though, they were pegged back just after the hour mark, and then conceded again to go down 2-1. It was far from an ideal start to the series, but there was still plenty of time to turn this around.
Match 2
16/10: Qatar 1-1 Saudi Arabia
Goal: Al-Suraiti (4′)
Line-up: Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, Madani, Al-Jawad, Al-Suraiti, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah, F Al-Bishi, Al-Mohammed (Youssef Al-Dosari 67), Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
An early goal by attacking midfielder Al-Suraiti gave Saudi Arabia the perfect start in the game where they were looking to make amends after the defeat to China in their opening fixture. However, they failed to see the game out, conceding an equalizer in the 87th minute. A single point’s return from their opening two matches was hardly what they’d imagined beforehand.
Match 3
21/10: Saudi Arabia 0-0 United Arab Emirates
Line-up (4-3-3): Al-Sabiyani – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah (c), Madani, Al-Jawad – Al-Thunayan, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah (Al-Suraiti h-t) – Bakhashwain (Al-Shahrani 66), Al-Mohammed, Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
The first game of the final stage where we were able to have a closer look at the fancied Saudis ended in a disappointing stalemate in difficult conditions. Saudi Arabia were the better team for most of the game, although they needed to be thankful to the officials for calling off what had looked like a valid UAE goal in the first half. This was approaching ‘last chance saloon’ for the Saudi team, and not winning meant that qualifying for the World Cup was more or less out of their hands.
Match 4
25/10: Saudi Arabia 0-2 South Korea
Line-up (4-3-3): Al-Deahyea – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah (c), Madani, Al-Jawad – Bakhashwain, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah (Al-Muwalid 67) – Al-Thunayan, Al-Suraiti (Youssef Al-Dosari 71), Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
A ‘must win’ match for the Saudis against the team top of the pile which had yet to concede, but with memories of dominance from the previous year’s Asian Cup final win, they would have entered the fixture hopeful, despite the absence of Majed Al-Mohammed up front following his red card against UAE. Saudi went on to concede late in the opening half due to an Al-Deahyea howler, having looked the stronger team until then. They give it a valiant effort in the second half, but lack a killer touch in front of goal. Al-Thunayan’s early effort wide the closest they came. Ultimately, they lost 2-0 thanks to a late second goal, and it was game over for the Saudis as far as qualifying for Italia ’90 went.
Match 5
28/10: Saudi Arabia 2-0 North Korea
Goals: Al-Musaibeah (13′), Al-Suraiti (57′)
Line-up: Al-Sabiyani – Al-Dosari, Al-Nuaimah, Madani, Al-Jawad, Al-Thunayan, Al-Saleh, Al-Musaibeah, Bakhashwain, Al-Suraiti (Youssef Al-Dosari 73), Al-Jam’an Al-Dosari
Saudi Arabia got their win eventually, but it didn’t matter a great deal, as their fate had already been sealed. A goal in each half by Al-Musaibeah and Al-Suraiti saw to that they also made sure of North Korea’s status as no-goers; they’d had a faint hope still of making it through before this final round of matches. Al-Mohammed remained suspended even for this game.
Saudi Arabia finished fifth among the six nations competing, and thus did not reach Italia ’90. Table:
1. South Korea 5 3 2 0 5-1 8
2. United Arab Emirates 5 1 4 0 4-3 6
3. Qatar 5 1 3 1 4-5 5
4. China 5 2 0 3 5-6 4
5. Saudi Arabia 5 1 2 2 4-5 4
6. North Korea 5 1 1 3 2-4 3
Conclusion
Having entered the qualification as favourites for reaching the World Cup, much on the back of what they had achieved during the 80s, with successive Asian Cup victories in ’84 and ’88, being eliminated even prior to the final round of matches, as the only among the six teams in the final group stage, must have been a huge disappointment to the team management, players and fans alike. They had negotiated the initial group stage without too much ado, although they had been run closely by Syria in both legs, winning by a stunning 5-4 margin at home, before drawing 0-0 in Latakia. That nine goal thriller was quite the result, especially in light of what went on in the final group stage, where goals were a rare commodity all over.
Carlos Alberto Parreira seemed to prefer a 4-3-3 formation with Saudi Arabia throughout the entirety of their qualification. Granted, we are only privy to two of their five matches in the final group stage, so we can’t say for sure how he lined up for the four matches in the initial phase, but based on the players who were in use, it seems highly likely he didn’t tinker with his tactical set-up much altogether. Even within that formation, he reluctantly changed and chopped in terms of players, clearly having an idea which was his favoured starting eleven.
The team had arguably the team’s biggest star featuring in the centre-forward role, although Majed Abdullah Al-Mohammed was probably past his peak at this point. He only netted twice in seven appearances, and let the team down when he punched an opponent and got himself sent off and suspended for the rest of the final group stage during the game against United Arab Emirates. By this point, three matches into their final series of five, Saudi Arabia were only hanging by the thread as far as possible qualification went. In match 4, they got done by an efficient South Korea side, which avenged the penalty shoot-out loss in the Asian Cup final in Qatar ten months earlier by winning 2-0. This made sure the Saudi team were done even before their final qualifier against North Korea. Ultimately, the 2-0 win in that fifth match meant little other than them avoiding propping up the final table entirely. However, a fifth place finish was surely not what they’d had in mind as they embarked on their journey in the final group stage just over a fortnight earlier.